Canadians are also susceptible to tactics used by terrorists online. ‘There’s no differentiation just because we have a physical border,’ says Marc Ginsberg, founder of the group behind the report
A new report says that terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda use AI on social media to inspire lone wolf attacks against the Jewish community in the United States. But Canadians are not exempt from this kind of targeted recruitment online.
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There’s no differentiation just because we have a physical border
Marc Ginsberg
“I don’t think ISIS and Al-Qaeda are doing anything, per se, to differentiate between the United States and (the rest of) North America,” said Ginsberg, speaking to the National Post on Wednesday. “There’s no differentiation just because we have a physical border.”
Terrorists have also become emboldened lately, per the report, due to a combination of the lack of content moderation on social media and extremist websites, and the availability of generative AI (G-AI) programs.
CSW researchers also found that terrorists made so-called “target identification packages” that showed geospatial photos of Jewish centres located in Toronto, as well as New York, Miami, Chicago, Detroit, Sydney and Melbourne. In addition, there has been an onslaught of new English-language publications enhanced by G-AI that offer “how-to guides and tips for this new and improved cyber propaganda spear.”
The content is curated for a “younger, more persuadable demographic with the goal of inciting resentment by potential lone wolf terrorist attacks to avenge Gaza’s Hamas terrorist and civilian casualties,” the report said. Using social media and G-AI allows terrorist groups to keep their identities hidden and recruit people without leaving a digital fingerprint.
This tactic has resulted in a surge of attempted, and successful, lone wolf attacks in the United States.
“I’m well aware of the antisemitism that is ominous in Canada in recent months. We’ve seen all sorts of stories,” Ginsberg told the National Post. “But your government has been much slower tackling the sources of antisemitic incitement.”
“That’s an illustration of how foreign terrorist organizations are using front groups to incite antisemitism in both Canada and the United States,” he said. “Trudeau’s parliamentary committees sat on their hands and knees for months and months refusing to do anything about the fact that Samidoun was operating a nonprofit, crossing the border into the United States to incite campus unrest in New York.”
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